From The Editor
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Common Roadblocks On The Path To Servitization
6/15/2018
Servitization has been defined as a manufacturing or product-centric organization’s ability to develop the capabilities needed to offer services after the product sale. For service-specific businesses, a similar focus has been put on migrating away from the traditional break-fix service model to an outcomes-based service model. Both transformations serve the purpose of maximizing revenue and increasing profit margins through service offerings.
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Welcome The Field Technologies Editorial Board
6/12/2018
My favorite part of my job is having in-depth conversations with field service leaders about their challenges, initiatives, and wins. I have had the honor of having countless of these conversations in my role at Field Technologies, and have often thought along the way how big of an opportunity there is to foster more collaboration among the field service executives I speak with. I often hear from people that they are so energized after attending an industry event and getting to network and commiserate with people that “get it,” only to get back into the daily grind and not have an opportunity to further those conversations until the following year’s event.
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3 Company Culture Flaws That Inhibit Innovation
5/31/2018
While innovation is undeniably imperative in today’s field service landscape, it doesn’t come easy for everyone or every company. It can be challenging to carve out time to “think big.” It can be scary. It can be difficult to determine what path to take among countless viable options. If an innovative mindset comes natural to you, that’s a great thing – but you’ll undoubtedly have to navigate co-workers who don’t share that trait. If innovation is outside of your comfort zone, that’s OK too – but you have to find ways to force the issue, because complacency is the kiss of death in the service-driven world we live in.
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The Secret To Making NPS Work For Your Company
5/31/2018
We’re all aware that the customer experience has become a key focus area for today’s leading field service organizations. Even companies that five years ago would have said how critical it was to improve first-time fix rates only because of the cost of a truck roll have shifted their thinking (and talking) to being far more concerned with how that repeat trip impacts their customers. This is because, at the root of it all, if you can’t make your customers happy, you can’t be successful. Period.
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6 Tips For Providing A Seamless Service Experience
5/30/2018
As a service organization working to optimize the customer experience, you need to be thinking about ways you can make your company’s service delivery a seamless experience for your customers. What does seamless service mean? Seamless service removes all potential frustration points for customers – it makes the service experience feel almost invisible to them. Customers should never have to work too hard to communicate with your company, to have their needs fulfilled, or to provide feedback. In working to achieve the delivery of seamless service, here are six tips to consider.
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Digital Transformation, IoT, And Service Strategy: Key Themes At IFS World Conference 2018
5/3/2018
I’m at IFS World Conference in Atlanta this week, where there’s been an abundance of talk about the shift field service is experiencing toward truly being a strategic (arguably the strategic) part of the overall business. Mark Brewer, global industry director for service management at IFS, spoke about the migration to the “experience economy” – how service organizations are moving beyond the goal of delivering stellar customer service to focus on truly offering customers an experience they can’t get elsewhere.
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The Need To Redefine The Field Service Role
4/30/2018
I’ve talked with a number of field service leaders recently about their struggles in finding and hiring good talent. Then last week, NPR posted this article that really caught my eye. The article talks about how there is an anti-trade job mentality being instilled in today’s youth. It made me wonder how much this issue has had an impact on the field technician shortage the industry is facing today.
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The Criticality Of A Narrow Focus For Technology Implementation
4/27/2018
I moderated a panel earlier this month at Field Service USA on “Demistifying AI” and one of the recurring themes from the participants was how absolutely crucial it is to have a narrow focus when you embark on a project. This idea is applicable whether we’re talking about AI, AR, IoT, or really any strategic shift you’re making. What these participants kept saying is that with all of the change going on in field service today, and all of the cool new technologies there are to easily become enamored with, it is challenging to stay focused on the task at hand.
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Balancing Today’s Struggles With Tomorrow’s Opportunities
4/26/2018
As a field service leader, one of the biggest challenges you may face is finding the right balance of tackling today’s issues effectively while keeping your eye on how to evolve and innovate your business to take advantage of tomorrow’s opportunities. This balancing act looks different depending on the size of your company and your exact role, but I think it’s a common challenge that any of you could sit down with a beer and commiserate about.
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Innovation Apparent At Field Service USA 2018
4/24/2018
It was a lovely week in Palm Springs last week at Field Service USA (especially since I left four inches of snow in Erie, PA). The consensus at the event was that there was an energy about it quite unlike previous years, and I think that the energy stemmed from a field service audience that has become truly ready to embrace innovation. We talk about the shift from cost center to profit center and the view of the field service function as becoming more strategic, and I think this evolution is why the 2018 event seemed so much more energetic